Indy Mini Marathon Race Report (Read 678 times)

What was I thinking? TIME!! I need more TIME!! I am NOT ready for this!!! My ITBS just won’t go away and of course I tend to obsess about it along with every single ache pain and twitch. Thursday was the Race Packet Pick Up day. This pumps me up. I could run it right then and there with no recoveries and within my goal with time to spare. Sure hope I feel like that Sat. Took Friday off from work 8 credit hours just to relax and do nothing. No jogging no stretching no nothing! Sure hope that was not a mistake. I have not logged a single mile since last Saturday. We’ll see. Didn’t sleep well all night. Got up at 4:00 am and got ready. Had a few bananas and cookies to carb up. Being a diabetic I can’t carb load. I was the first one at the meeting point. Several people showed up to cheer us on an then drove up to cheer us on some more. One sign I really liked “May the Course be With You” She even had her hair a little like Princes Leia. It was great. We got there with time to spear and found parking straight off. Did some stretching and waited for the start. I was in Corral O and some in our group was in Z. So we were spread out some. Took 14+ minutes to reach the start line after the gun. I was right at 40 minutes and on pace at 5k no problems. No rain as forecast, but it was muggy. At 6 miles my ITBS said hello but it was not too bad. At the Track (Indy 500) we had to go down and under that track and the ITBS screamed at me. But I was ahead of my pace and not really feeling bad. Then the knee really started t o hurt and the humidity was taking its toll. Walked some recoveries on the track. At the 15K mark the ITBS said OK you are done. More walking that running and my goal went with the knee. The walking let my feet and hands swell up and a blister I have been nursing got a little painful, not too bad. Anyone want to bid on a left knee? CHEAP!!! I did manage to run across the finish line with an official time of 3:18:43 a 22+ minute improvement over last year. However last year was just walking.

But until the ITBS flaired up I was on pace for 2:44 and some change! No runing for 2 weeks while I get this under control.

22 minutes is a whopper of an improvement. Way to go...great race and great report.

That's great, Bear! Awesome job and a nice improvement! In my book, a PR is always a good thing. Even just 1 second. But 22 minutes, WOW! Let that injury heal up and you can start working on training for the next one.

WTG Gregg! I looked around for you but never saw anyone who looked like they might be you. We hung out at the tent before the race and then took off right afterwards so we weren't around much. My race was disappointing to me. It shouldn't have been. I did shave 20 minutes off my time from last year, which is actually amazing considering that I've been fighting this hamstring injury and this respiratory thing for over a month now. My workouts have been about half what they were for at least the past 4 weeks and the long runs have been non-existent. I just never got into a groove today. I usually feel better after the first couple of miles and sort of cruise along, enjoying the run and then suffer again there at the end. This was suffering the whole way. My hamstring really started to act up at the track. I stopped and stretched a couple of times and stopped once to put one of those Bengay patches on it. It got me through the race but the last two miles were misery. Every step I was trying to decide whether I should go on or if I should stop. I was afraid that it was so tight it was going to tear and I didn't want to ruin the rest of the season. I made it but just barely. The humidity really bugged me. I guess I've not gotten used to it this year yet. One of our teammates got dehydrated and ended up getting an IV in the medical tent. Her time was good. Like 1:45 but as her dehydration got worse she started hallucinating. She thought she saw dh and I run by her right outside the track without stopping. She told the doctor she'd had a horrible race 2:30. She couldn't figure out why he looked at her like she was crazy. At that point 2:00 wasn't even on the clock. LOL! Luckily she's okay but it was a valuable lesson for us to hydrate! hydrate! hydrate! SHe thought she could save some time by skipping some of the water stops. On a hot humid day like today that was a bad idea. I was happy with my pace through the first 10 miles. A month ago, it would have been faster. ::sigh:: But dh and I revised our time goal and decided we'd be thrilled with 2:10. (He's been fighting injuries for the past couple of months. Shins, ITBS and Plantar Fasciitis.) I didn't think he was even gonna be able to run the race. The Mini is how we celebrate or anniversary. This year is our second Mini and our 12th anniversary. We ended up at 2:07:19 which is 20 minutes better than out 2:27 last year. I'm anxious to do another HM, preferably one with a lot fewer people. There were over 29,000 runners who *finished* the race. I don't know how many people started but even though we started in a better corral this year (Corral G instead of S last year), we still had to fight our way though too many people. I'm hoping to have a better experience next year. Now I just want to go to bed! LOL! Then tomorrow I'll start working on a new training plan. Teresa

WTG GREGG & Teresa!! WAY to make huge improvents despite injuries!

Teresa, What is DH doing for the ITBS? This problem really has me down right now!!! Makes me wonder about '08 a lot!!! The IBTS showed up last year during the walk of the Mini but as I at that time was a non runner I had no clue what it was. Then when I took up running it wouldflair up but over time the distances for the flair up was longer and longer. Now it starts at between 4 and 5 miles. So any advise is most welcomed!!!

Congratulations on the PBs folks. Seems to have been a decent weekend for RA racers all-around!